Ioana Martian

The basic question in finance is: “Do you like pizza or pasta?”The answer is “there is no answer to that question”. The correct question should be: “Do you like pasta or Chinese noodles?”.

This is how professor Salvatore Cantale, would start the first Corporate Finance-605 class on a sunny, humid, hot day at A.B.Freeman School of Business in New Orleans would start. This Master of Finance taught by faculty ranked in top 10 among their peers in the US educational system, has been since the very first day very intense, competitive, and rewarding.

The MFIN program has this year 75 students, out of which 30 are Chinese or Chinese language speakers, 30 American students and a minority that includes: 3 Indian students, 1 student from Latin America and 1 European. Of course, you have guessed well: I am the one European student! This is a truly non-European experience. By saying that I mean that I am the only European student in this Master of Finance program here and I am glad, since this gives me the opportunity of being an ambassador of Romania as well as for the European Union’s culture and values.

Even if I had previous international experience, I still encountered new opportunities to adapt in the international environment at Tulane University. Therefore, I started learning how to ride a bike for the first time in my life (I own a pretty pink bike, if you are interested), my housemate teaches me Mandarin so that I could , I am recently a member of the Tulane Energy Club, and last but not least I am enhancing my time management skills. I truly believe that this is the best time of my life when I could really educate myself regarding the way I am managing my spare time.

During the intense summer classes, and by intense I mean 6 hours per day classes of corporate finance, options or financial accounting, I learned from a true Louisianian perspective that financial accounting can be really captivating if you have the right professor.

By the time I finished the Corporate Finance-605 class, I would understand what prof. Cantale wanted to say that the growth rate of a student is equal to how intelligent the student is multiplied by how much he/she studies.

I have recently been selected among 10 other MFIN colleagues to participate in the Burkenroad Reports, a national recognized securities research program through Freeman School during the Fall semester. Prof. Ricchiuti, director of the program, had once more confidence in me and allowed me to participate into a team that would analyze an energy company, that is a company that build nuclear plants. Needless to say, here in Louisiana, energy companies are highly prized since the whole area from Houston to New Orleans is mainly focused in oil&gas industry.

All in all being a Fulbright grantee is like having an international business card and I am glad to have one!